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' Patented D60. l3, lass.

8. PEARSON.

NECK YOKE CENTER.

(Application filed Jan. 6, 1898 2 Sheets-Sheet I.

(No Model.)

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E No. 6l6,065. Patented Dec. I3, I898.

S. PEARSON.

NECK YOKE CENTER.

(Application filed Jan. 6, 1898.)

(No Model. 2 Sheets-Sheet 2.

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NiTnn STATES PATENT FFICE.

SWAIN PEARSON, OF ROCK ISLAND, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR TO ANNA PEARSON, OF SAME PLACE.

NECK-YOKE CENTER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 616,065, dated December 13, 1898.

Application filed January 6, 1898. Serial No. 665,726. (No model.)

T0 at whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, SWAIN PEARSON, of Rock Island, Rock Island county, Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Neck-Yoke Centers, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact de scription, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part thereof.

My invention relates to neck-yoke'centers, and is designed particularly as an improvement on the neck yoke center numbered 548,326 and patented to Anna Pearson, assignee, October 22, 1895, it being found in practice that said neck-yoke center is obj ectionable, first, on account of weakness at the point of connection of the collar 4 with the annulus 30; secondly, because the head of the bolt 12 soon wears ofi, rendering the connection between the collar 4 and clasp 16 unreliable, and, thirdly, because the connection between said collar and clasp after short service becomes so loose as to constantly rattle while in service. The object of the invention, as above suggested, is to obviate these defects and to otherwise improve the device; and to this end it consists in certain novel and peculiar features of construction and arrangement hereinafter described and claimed.

In order that the invention may be fully understood, reference is to be had to the acoompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 is a perspective View of the neckyoke center detached from the tongue and neck-yoke bar. Fig. 2 is a central vertical section of the same as applied to the tongue and neck-yoke bar. Fig. 3 is a section taken on the line III III of Fig. 4. Fig. 4 is a sectiontaken on the line IV IV of Fig. 3. 5 is a side elevation of the collar for engagement with the pole or tongue. Fig. 6 is a detail perspective view of the compressible or antirattling key.

In the said drawings, 1 designates the front end of the pole or tongue, and 2 the customary pole-tip, provided with a depending crescent-shaped flange 3.

4 designates a collar, the passage 5 of which, through which the pole-tip projects, extends at an angle to the collar in order to cause the latter to assume an oblique position to the pole tip-that is to say, to incline downwardly and forwardly and consequently bear firmly against the correspondingly-inclined pole-tip flange.

The collar at its front side is provided with an inwardly-projecting annular flange 6, for a purpose which will hereinafter appear, and with a shoulder 7, depending from its rear and under side. It is also provided centrally with a central longitudinal rib 8 at its under side, which rib extends from the shoulder to the front face of the collar. The collar at its upper side is furthermore provided with a tubular neck 9, extending vertically, and therefore at an angle to the body of the collar, and at the point of communication of the passage of said tubular neck with the interior of the collar a groove 10 is formed, for a purpose which will presently appear.

The collar is provided with a lining 11, of rawhide or any othersuitable material, to protect it' from wear due to frictional contact with the metallic pole-tip, and said lining is prevented from working forwardly upon the tapering pole-tip and out of the collar by vmeans of the flange 6, hereinbefore referred to, and is prevented from workin g rearwardly by means of the crescent-shaped flange of the pole-tip. It may also be rivetedin position, if desired.

12 designates apivot-bolt which extends up through the neck of the collar and has its headed end provided with a rib 12, engaging the groove 10, hereinbefore referred to, in

order to keep the bolt from turning, and consequently the head from wearing ofl, thereby insuring a reliable connection between the collar 4: and the coupling member, presently described, which connects said collar with the neck-yoke clasp hereinbefore described. The upper or threaded end of this bolt is engaged by a nut 13, which clamps the washer let firmly down upon the upper end of the neck and also upon the sleeve of the swivel member, said sleeve being rotatably mounted upon said neck and between the washer and the body of the collar. Said swivel member also comprises the laterally-projecting arms 10.

17 designates a clasp or sleeve, the ends of which are reliably secured together by a boltand-nut connection 18, and in order that said clasp may be enabled to fit neck-yoke bars of varying diameters it is constructed of springmetal and a filling in the shape of a leather strip interposed between said flanges, so as to prevent the clasp from contracting beyond a certain amount, it being understood, of course, that this filling may be varied in thickness to correspond with the diameter of the neck-yoke bar with which the clasp is designed to be used. The ends or terminals of said spring-clasp are provided with registering slots 20, for a purpose which will presently appear.

The clasp is provided with an elongated opening 21 in its front and lower side, and communicating with the sides of the same are the internal recesses 22 of the clasp and with the ends of the same the depending U -shaped pockets 23, whereon are journaled the cylin drical arms or trunnions 16 of the coupling member of the device.

A plate 24, of rubber or other resilient material, bridges the opening 21 and rests in the recesses 22. Said plate is also provided with the shoulders 25, depending into the U-shaped pockets 23 and pressing firmly down upon the arms or trunnions 16, said shoulders being concave in their under sides, preferably, so as to have a more extended bearing upon said arms or trunnions, to the end that the swivel member shall be prevented as it rocks up and down in practice from rattling in the clasp. The upper side of this resilient plate 24 is concaved, so as to conform to the interior surface of the clasp and fit snugly and tightly against the neck-yoke bar 25, which as it is forced into the clasp presses the shoulder of said resilient plate down upon the arms or trunnions of the coupling.

26 designates an elliptical or elongated annulus which surrounds the pole or tongue and is provided at its upper end with a loop 27, to which is connected the lower and rear end of a strap 28, the opposite end of said strap being looped through the slots 20 of the ends or terminals of the clasp. In order to prevent any possible chance of disconnection between the annulus and the collar, the lower end of the annulus is provided with a bifurcated or skeleton hook 29, which finds a bearing against the front side of the depending flange '7 and the under side of the collar 4 and is locked in such position from lateral movement by means of the tongue 8 of the collar engaging the groove 31 of the hook. Vertical disconnection is prevented by means of screw-bolts 32, which extend through openings in the hook at opposite sides of said tongue-and-groove connection into the collar. By this arrangement it is obvious that a strong, durable, and reliable connection is made, owing to the fact that the tongue-andgroove connection relieves the bolts 32 of all lateral or twisting strain, leaving the bolts to sustain only the weight of the annulus.

In assembling the parts of this neck-yoke center in operative position the annulus is first secured to the collar 4 and to the clasp. The coupling member must then be inserted into the clasp and pushed through the opening 21 until its cylindrical arms or trunnions 16 enter the pockets 23. The sleeve portion 15 is then fitted upon the neck of the collar and secured in position by the bolt 12, nut 13, and washer 14. The antirattling plate 24: is then slipped into the clasp and pressed down into the recesses 22 until its shoulders bear upon the trunnions of the coupling member. The device as a whole is then inverted and slipped upon the pole-tip until the crescent-shaped fiange has passed through the annulus 26, this inversion being necessary in order to dispose the crescent-shaped flange opposite the hook of the annulus and against the rear side of the top. The device is then rotated upon the pole-tip to bring said flange squarely against the rear side of the lower end of the collar. The neck-yoke bar being now slipped into the clasp, the connection is complete.

In removing the neck-yoke center from position the device must be rotated until it assumes a vertical position before it can be slipped over the end of the pole-tip, as will be readily understood.

From the above description it will be apparent that I have produced a neck-yoke center which embodies the features enumerated as desirable in the statement of invention.

Having thus described the invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. In a neck-yoke center, the combination with a collar for engagement with a pole-tip, a clasp for engagement with a neck-yoke bar, and a coupling between the collar and the clasp, of an annulus looped to the clasp and provided at its lower end with a hook haviu g a tongue-and-groove connection with the under side of the collar, substantially as described.

2. In a neck-yoke center, the combination with a collar for engagement with the pole-ti p, a clasp for engagement with a neck-yoke bar, and a coupling between the collar and the clasp, of an annulus looped to the clasp and provided at its lower end with a hook having a tongue-and-groove connection with the under side of the collar, and devices, such as rivets or screws, connecting said hook and collar at opposite sides of the tongue-andgroove connection, substantially as described.

3. In a neck-yoke center, the combination of a collar for engagement with a pole-tip, and providedin its under sidewith a central longitudinal rib, an annulus surrounding the pole-tip and provided at its lower end with a hook, having a central longitudinal groove fitting snugly upon said rib, and screws eX- tending upwardly through said hook and into the collar at opposite sides of said rib, substantially as described.

4. In a neck-yoke center, the combination with a collar, a neck-yoke-bar clasp provided IIO with journal-pockets 23 23, and elongated openings 21 communicating with the same,

depending shoulders 25, which press firmly down upon the trunnions of said coupling,

and internal recesses 22 22 at opposite sides substantially as described.

of said opening, and a swivel member coupling the collar and the clasp together, and comprising a sleeve journaled upon the collar and cylindrical arms or trnnnions journaled in said journal-pockets of the clasp, and a plate 24, engaging the recesses and bridging 10 the opening of the clasp, and provided with In testimony whereof I aflix my signature in the presence of two Witnesses.

SWAIN PEARSON. 

